Win Number Five
The Red Sox were dead last night at 9:30pm, looking at a 7 run deficit in the 7th inning. And after I and others gave-up on them, the incredible happened. The bats woke-up. David Ortiz hit a 3-run homer to right. Coco Crisp battled in an epic 10-pitch at-bat that eventually drove home the tying run. And JD Drew drove home Kevin Youkilis home in the bottom of the 9th. It was the largest single game postseason comeback in 79 years. Incredible. And I wasn't the only Red Sox fan who missed it.
The Red Sox, amazingly, are now 15-3 in their last 18 must-win postseason games, dating back to the ALDS against Cleveland in 1998.
This team continues to amaze me, especially when I expect them to quietly die.
Rays starter, 'Big Game' James Shields, finally has his first big game Saturday. Let's see if he can stand his ground and hold the line.
And Josh Beckett has a third chance to have a great postseason start this year. You think he's pissed? Let's see how pissed Josh Beckett performs under pressure.
The greatest baseball game I have ever seen with my own eyes is Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS. It was the sleeper game in that amazing series. People remember Ortiz' walk-off hits in games 4 and 5. But Game 6 was where the baseball gods intervened, and the 'curse' was reversed. The Sox had to win or go home for the third straight time, and it was a very weird game. Kurt Schilling pitched his greatest game, going 7 scoreless innings on his injured (and oddly sutured) ankle tendon. Calls got reversed. A-Rod showed Yankee fans why he will never win a ring in pinstripes. NYPD stormtroopers lined the foul lines. Mark Bellhorn and Saturn Balls were bonus heroes. And Keith Foulke struck out Tony Clark to end the bottom of the 9th after walking Matsui and Ruben Sierra. It was one of the greatest Red Sox games ever in front of 56,000 stunned Yankee Fans.
And from what I understand, last night's game was also one of the greatest Sox games ever. And we will see a Game 6 in this series. Anything can happen. It's all hands on deck for Terry Francona and the Sox. I can't bear to watch.